A Trio Of Works Celebrate 100 Years Of Robbins' Genius
To celebrate the 100th birthday of iconic balletmaster Jerome Robbins, The Houston Ballet, as well as the world's leading ballet companies, brings his kinetic magic to the stage in a special anniversary program featuring a range of works selected from different eras in his storied career. The evening begins with the joyful effervescence of Fancy Free, the Leonard Bernstein collaboration that would later turn into Broadway classic On The Town and launch both Bernstein and Robbins to international attention.
This is followed by The Cage, a lesser-known work from Robbins' early period that's enjoying a resurgence thanks to its parallels with modern feminism and the Me Too movement. Set to Stravinsky's Concerto in D for String Orchestra, the piece evokes a wild tribe of insect-like, man-eating female creatures as they welcome a new initiate into their fold and prepare for an attack by male rivalries. The program's finale is The Concert (Or The Perils Of Everybody), a high spirited comic ballet revered for its ability to make its audience laugh (which is no mean feat in the world of ballet).